A few hunches about Mark's Gospel Chapters One to Six after reading the whole book through

Did you notice that Mark's Gospel begins and ends in Galilee? That is important.. It helps us understand why it was written and who it was written for. It might help us understand other "bits" at the end of the gospel where the publisher seems unsure about including them or not. You do remember those bits, don't you?

They have footnotes with them. In the footnotes it says something like "This paragraph is in some, but not all, of the ancient manuscripts". Some people might read these to indicate that the whole story is dodgy. I don't. As I read them they indicate that Mark's Gospel was used for teaching in different places and my hunch is that in some of the places, or schools, where it was used the people did not know the full story. My hunch is that the initial purpose of the Gospel was to help people understand who Jesus was from what He did when He was here. The people Mark wrote for initially seem to have been those who met Him after His resurrection when He returned to Galilee for a final stint of teaching before He left the earth, the planet, us, to be with his Father in Heaven.

That last bit "to be with His Father in Heaven" is hard to understand, too, isn't it? What does that mean? Well whatever it means, Mark's gospel was not written just for those who were present when Jesus finally left. Those lucky people would have been just a little confused. From what is what is written about Jesus' final departure one minute He was with them and then … gone.

So, Mark's Gospel seems to have been written for people He saw and taught after He returned to Galilee to be with His disciples, and Peter as well, after God had raised Him from the dead.

So, why did Jesus head back to Galilee and meet with His disciples there? Yes, they needed Him to explain the great things that had taken place. And He taught them where they lived and worked. Yet He only appeared to people who believed. Some people think that proves He didn't rise from the dead at all! But the record says that those who did see Him in His resurrected body were those who came to believe in Him. There are a few mysteries here and we can't work it all out but just because we don't have the story down to every last detail, doesn't mean we do not know the story.

So, during that time Jesus taught and helped His disciples to come to terms with what had happened. I suppose He reminded them of what He had taught them before. Mark does tell us over and over that these disciples were slow learners, and couldn't understand what He was on about. So it would have been a bit of a refresher course, not exactly like it was before He had gone up to Jerusalem, but not completely different either. So, that is why I suggest Mark's Gospel was initially written for Jesus' Galilee followers, those who had seen Him before His trial and those who saw Him after He returned to Galilee. Mark also knew he had to write it so those who had never seen Him (that includes us) could get the story too!

That is also part of how I could say that the healing of the man with a withered hand was actually an Easter story. Remember? In fact, the whole of Mark's gospel is one long Easter Story, one great, full-length resurrection story. Now then, here's my summary of how Mark saw things up to where we have reached:

First, the people of Galilee were reminded how they had been stirred by the preaching and the teaching of John the Baptist. That man was a pretty special prophet and many had decided to follow him. The region was stirred up, with many believing that God was about to do really big things. Some thought it was about time God threw out the Romans, but then, as we have been told, John was thrown into prison and finally, when Herod ordered it, he was executed.

Mark reminds us that Jesus willingly took part in the movement John had started. We are told about that special event when John met his cousin at the Jordan River. This was all in the first part of chapter one. John's repentance movement was part of Jesus' preparation and so was the time in the desert, too, when He was tested by the Adversary (the Satan, the devil) on His own.

Mark tells that Jesus began to teach in the synagogues at the time John was thrown into prison. And people came in large numbers to hear Him too, often out in the open air. He also hand-picked some of His disciples to travel with Him, and some of these were members of His extended family. Jesus became famous as a healer and teacher moving from town to town around the region doing good things and making friends.

But then, when the crowds got so big, He had to find ways to teach effectively. He also acted to keep crowds away when He wanted to concentrate on instructing His special disciples. They were the ones He chose to carry the message further and they needed a lot of teaching.

In His healing work Jesus did not want people to avoid the customary way of doing things; despite the fact that He told the leper to check out His healing with the priest, the leper foolishly ignored that advice (1:40-45).

Many people seem to have been willing to go on long trips into the desert, to fast, at that time. They were wanting to rediscover who they were, as well as to listen to the teachers who could tell them about God's Kingdom. Jesus took up where John left off and there were also various famous healings that took place when Jesus told people their sins had been forgiven. The religious leaders, the scribes and the Pharisees, are also part of the story, and they became increasingly uneasy (2:6) about this. Not only did Jesus forgive the sins of a person He had just healed, but He ate with people the religious leaders would never go near (2:10). Besides, His disciples were not fasting (2:18). The religious leaders kept on nit-picking (2:24) but Jesus kept on trying to help them understand why they were missing out on God's love.

But the opposition started to grow (3:6) particularly with that withered hand fellow. My hunch is that when Jesus returned to Galilee after He was raised He reminded His followers how that event had stirred the opposition to Him. Jesus had to teach in the face of strong opposition and the religious leaders plotted with evil elements among the Romans to get rid of Him once and for all. That is why Jesus continued to heal and teach in the countryside, moving from town to town (3:7-8). He began teaching from a fishing smack using the trips along Galilean coast to teach His closest disciples. Jesus helped His disciples understand, and in His parables and other material, they were given the "inside" story of God's Kingdom. He also gave them work to do, sending them out to teach in people's homes. He was no longer the home-town teacher as it might have seemed when He began teaching.

But even His childhood town turned against Him. His relatives were happy to have Him there, for a while, but they too were worried and irritated by what was happening. His own mother thought He was overdoing it. She was on her own learning curve (3:19b-21; 31-35).

So things were developing and when they are you are never sure whether they are manageable. This Rabbi had to have food available to help cater for those hanging on His every word.

But there were not only family and home-town pressures. Jesus knew that people weren't to be trusted, and He knew He was an endangered species as far as the religious and other powerful leaders were concerned. They didn't like him casting out evil spirits. They didn't like the continuation of the John the Baptist movement. That would upset the Romans. They didn't like him going from town to town. They didn't want healing done in His kind of way. They said He was evil. They said that this movement was aimed at taking people back to the time before Joshua fought the battle of Jericho. Jesus, they said, was a new kind of fertility religion, in league with the prince of Ba'als. No doubt the priests and the religious leaders, and even some of His own disciples, did not like the way children and mothers, were attracted to Him. But Jesus did not just leave it there. He actually took the opportunity and rejected the religious leaders' accusations and quietly, firmly told them that Satan can not be on the side of the Kingdom of God (3:22-30). That was a full frontal reply.

So He continued teaching on the sea, and the stories were simple enough for people to remember them and share them with each other. Jesus had a good collection of such stories so that His disciples could develop their teaching among all His Galilee followers when He was no longer there. And He also taught the crowds how to listen. He explained to His closest students what hearing God's word is all about, and I suppose the boat became a kind of teacher's college ((4:10) as He taught them how people learn. He prepared them so that they could understood how the people who came were responding, keeping them alert to how the teaching of the Kingdom of God makes an impact upon everything that's going on in a person's life. They needed preparation, that was obvious. They needed the soil to be dug over. This is what Jesus was doing when He told the parables, and so, later, when He returned to Galilee, and even later still, after He had left and His disciples were teaching the Good News, their seed would germinate and grow and bring forth a big harvest (4:1-20). There were many stories like that (4:21-34).

Jesus was preparing His disciples for the time when they would be spreading the word themselves, being the light (4:21) to the whole world … . Sure they were His disciples, and He was teaching them but this was not so they could keep it all to an in-group (the lamp has to be on the stand 4:21; you have to give out generously 4:25) and they would be fully absorbed in harvesting when the time eventually came for it (4:29). It was perhaps a small and modest mustard seed in its beginning but that is what it is like with the tree of God's Kingdom (4:31-32).

So as we read Mark's story we see Jesus engrossed in His work. So much so that He slept in the storm and allowed the fisherman to do what they did best - sail the boat out of it. He had made an impact on these fellows. We get a hint of how much because they seem almost to have lost confidence in their own abilities to sail a boat in stormy weather; surely they were known for their professional expertise! In the middle of a storm on the lake they sensed that without God's help they were lost. When they woke Him up, Jesus was very kind, and not grumpy. They asked Him to help them; and they were then completely gobsmacked when the sea and the waves did what He told them to do: "Be still! Cool it! Chill out!" The storm stopped.

I can imagine that when they talked about this back in Galilee after Jesus had been raised that they laughed and wondered if it had all been a dream!

But Jesus continued His healing work along the shores. In time this would mean that the Ten Towns would hear about His coming. Jesus was not only the problem who caused the loss of two thousand pigs when a maniac was healed; His fame spread far and wide and this meant that the opposition to Him was also growing.

Not all religious leaders wanted to get rid of Him. Jesus was touched by a bloodied woman, whom He then healed, which made Him unclean in the Pharisees' eyes. But this did not stop that Synagogue Ruler, Jairus, and his wife, from welcoming Him into their home. There He healed their daughter. He took charge of the situation when other know-alls said she was dead. He protected all in that household, and no doubt later on, when He appeared again in Galilee after His resurrection, that story, the miracle of the little girl's healing, was discussed again and explained. But He knew how to be sensitive to the needs of people, a teacher who drew large crowds and raised peoples' hopes.

Jesus acted to control the crowds, seeing to the welfare of each and everyone involved. Even though resistance was growing, He was happy to be part of some large scale popular events, spurred on by Elijah's ancient example, to fast as they trekked off into the desert. He accepted that the people were searching, wanting to see the ways of the Lord God of Israel restored. He accepted that that was why He had come, although He would not allow Himself to be ruled by any crowd.

He honoured His own family and His own home town even though they began to nurse deep resentment towards Him. He saw the growth of opposition in His own circles, He sent his own disciples out (6:7-13), in a way that reminds us how John the Baptist had preached about the simplicity of repentant living before God.

Jesus understood from the outset that those who followed Him were going to suffer. He knew that opposition and resistance would come from deep within the hearts of people who wanted to see themselves as the controllers of the region. Roman power was stacked against John the Baptist (6:21) and Jesus' work developed in the midst of ongoing social turmoil and unrest. Herod, although he sucked up to the Sadducees, believed in a resurrection of holy prophets. His quisling advisors had probably told him that some of Elijah's promises were still to be fulfilled.

Mark's story tells us that Jesus attracted a massive following, many of whom had little idea of what He stood for. Elijah-like, they traipsed out into the wilderness without provisions. Seeking the God of Elijah, these people believed that there was indeed a terror to be avoided; it was not Jezebel as in the days of their prophet, but then John's head had recently been served up on a plate in Herod's banquet hall!

Mark gives us every indication that the situation was explosive in political terms. The miracle of the bread in the wilderness - the Galilean followers would have easily remembered this - seems to have occurred in the context of some kind of political emergency. Remember, some there were wanting to make Jesus king. And Mark, and the other gospel writers, indicate that the miraculous feeding was somehow part of Jesus avoiding that trap. After all, when Mark says that 5,000 men had followed Jesus out to the edge of the Negev (6:35, 44), he is certainly telling us that something serious was afoot. He also tells us of another feeding a little later on as well when there were 4,000 men there (8:1-10).

But Mark tells us that Jesus had then wanted to get away with his own disciples - to help prepare them for what was to come - but the mass hysteria, which seems to have been pretty dangerous for Him - was something He was trying to avoid, particularly because His own special disciples needed care and instruction. So when that was taken care of, His compassion was still there. It is worth while re-reading the story of Elijah's flight from Jezebel (1 Kings 18-19) and to note, by way of comparison, that Jesus provided each of His closest disciples with a small lunchbox of bread and fish as their next day's provisions. We are to be thankful to the Lord God for the way he makes provision for us, and not forget what He is still able to do for us even under the most terrible hardships.

And finally in this section (Chapters 1-6) we have another example of the fishermen being completely astounded by Jesus' abilities to do His work, and minister to His disciples, despite the barriers not only of storm and waves, but also of distance and difficulty. I honestly can't say that I understand what happened.

But clearly this account, by Mark, tells us what experienced fishermen said about one occasion in the crossing of Galilee when the wind was fierce and they met up with Him again. Though Jesus' fame was still increasing far and wide even His disciples were not yet able to see how that what this Man was doing, He was doing for them (6:52).

Our hunch is that the first readers of Mark's gospel knew about some of the miracles, like the massive crowd feedings and the sea, and they also knew that something had happened to the daughter of Jairus. So when it was written down, and they could read it and pass it around in their homes and synagogues, they knew it was the "inside" story known previously to Jesus and the twelve.

Jesus told us a story once about the right attitude to prayer. Do you remember it? Two people went to church to pray. There was this religious person right up the front, close to the holy and sacred end of the building. He thanked God he was so special. He was grateful that he could approach God cleanly because he had received so much righteousness, and in particular he was so very thankful that he was not like that other guy. But that other guy could only put his toe in the door. He felt so rotten about himself that he did not put more of himself into that holy place, and so, without lifting his head to look God in the eye he merely mumbled: "Lord, please have mercy on me because I am a sinner without hope." God knew his heart. He heard that prayer. And you'll recall that Jesus said it was the prayer of that guy at the back that was heard. After all the first fellow hadn't even asked God for anything; he was there to tell God a thing or two. But the humble sinner who asks for mercy receives membership into God's family.

There are always a sting in the tail of Jesus' parables. He knew how we can twist God's ways. For instance, Jesus knew that we could turn around and say "Thank-you God that I am not like that hypocritical religious leader up the front!" Say something like that and we show we have missed the point, not only of the story but of God's forgiveness. But it's easy to do! The parable was told to help us stop being so foolish with our own twisted views.

In the next chapters of Mark we hear about the crowds Jesus faced with so many poor and needy people coming out to hear Him. We read of the problems others had with him because He cared for people and understood God's law in ways that sounded strange because they mostly had forgotten what God's law was for. We saw all that in the events recorded in Chapters 5 & 6, the stories of the mad man in the cemetery and the synagogue ruler, the healing of the bleeding woman and the raising of the little girl. There are more, lots more, to come.

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BCW May 2003 / August 2004 © The contents of the web-site are copyright. Documents may be photocopied or retransmitted in their entirety but not otherwise reprinted or transmitted without permission. "Hunches about Jesus" is an initiative of Bruce Wearne, made possible in part from generous grants from the Australian Research Theology Foundation Inc for 2001-2003. The project aims to encourage a positive Christian attitude to the reading of the bible and the re-telling of bible stories. Comments are welcome. Email should be sent to bcwearne@ozemail.com.au. Should you wish to receive weekly copies of further chapters please drop a line to that effect and your name will be added to our list. Queries and requests are welcome as are requests for the writer to be available for bible story-telling occasions at schools, churches and in homes.